David Muth

David Muth is a New Orleans native who has spent a lifetime in the Mississippi River delta and on the Gulf coast, studying its geology, ecology, plants, wildlife, history and culture. He took his degree in history at University of New Orleans and became professionally interested in the connection between culture and environment in the context of the delta. He worked for 30 years with the National Park Service at Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve in south Louisiana, eventually managing its natural and cultural resource programs. At the beginning of 2011, he joined the National Wildlife Federation and is the Director of the Gulf Restoration program.

The program works in all five Gulf states, combining advocacy, outreach, education, science, and communications, along with state and federal policy initiatives, to bring about comprehensive, large-scale restoration of Gulf ecosystems, from the Everglades to the Rio Grande. In Louisiana it involves a joint effort among the federation, Environmental Defense Fund and the National Audubon Society, along with local partners like the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation, the Louisiana Wildlife Federation, the Nature Conservancy of Louisiana, and Restore or Retreat, to bring about comprehensive, systemic restoration of the coast by reconnecting the Mississippi River and its life giving sediment to the dying delta.

The Gulf Restoration Program is working to find and seek consensus and national support for an ecologically sound and sustainable program to restore the health of the Gulf and to do so in a way that preserves the communities and culture of Gulf coastal communities to the maximum extent possible.